Addiction

Study: Prescription Drugs Kill More People Than Heroin, Cocaine

A new report states that more patients died from overdosing on prescription drugs in the UK than from heroin and cocaine abuse in 2012.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says 807 people died from a fatal overdose of prescription drugs in 2012, while 718 died from heroin and cocaine abuse.

Prescription painkillers and tranquilizers are behind the rise of deaths from "legal" drugs, says the report.

The study claims that British physicians have failed to warn people about possible addictions of these pills and have over-prescribed them.

Numbers gathered from Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) show that physicians have increased painkiller prescriptions by 30 percent over five years, with 62 million prescriptions written last year alone.

“This can be long-term addiction and there is very little support for addicts. There needs to be more understanding of how serious this problem is. Lives are being destroyed and people are being left without the help and support they need. The government has refused to accept the scale of the problem," British lawmaker Jim Dobbin told Press TV.

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